Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
A study looking at the effect of the Great Famine: “Our results indicate that in-utero and early childhood exposure to famine had large negative effects on adult height, weight, weight-for-height, educational attainment and labor supply.” Not a shocker.
The state of California is in serious fiscal trouble. Those troubles extend the state’s flagship university system. “The scenario that assumes failure of the May 19 state ballot propositions would leave the UC system with a net budget reduction of $322 million, or 10 percent, in the 2009-10 year. Taken together with the state’s…
Econ Journal Watch has a swath of quotations concerning intellectual pursuits. “[The economist’s] response [to his impotence to influence opinion] may be to retire from that field of intellectual activity in which he could be of direct service to the community and… concentrate on the development of an intricate technique of analysis. he may then find himself the possessor…
A humorous take the serious problem of job lock. HT: Carolyn’s Blog
The Washington Post recounts a cautionary tale concerning a hasty roll-out of the flu vaccine this fall. “As U.S. health officials consider rolling out a plan to inoculate the nation against swine flu in the next several months, they are haunted by the events that unfolded the last time the government stepped in to head…
Marketplace discusses the uptick in Health IT investment. One reason for the surge is the $19 billion in the Obama stimulus package to encourage doctors to get up to speed using electronic medical records. Will this money be spent effectively? Who knows. I did note last week that 60% of Indian hospitals have HIT compared…
El Universal reports that Mexican police have arrested 13 individuals accused of selling surgical masks on the street. Should the government arrest individuals selling surgical masks? Any capitalist would in general support the ability of individuals to trade cash for the goods they desire. However, the case of the surgical mask may be different. Surgical…
Where has the swine flu been detected? A map of the H1N1 Swine Flu lists all confirmed, unconfirmed, and negative cases of the swine flu around the world. Mexico City has decided to close all restaurants in the capital, only allowing them to serve food ‘to go.’ Restaurant associations are asking for the restaurant ban to be lifted.…
What caused the housing boom? Did people really believe that a median home price of over $500,000 in San Diego were realistic? Were people caught up in the dot-com boom really rational? Economics 2.0, reviews a paper saying that rational people will often buy assets that they themselves believe are overvalued. Why? Let’s say I believe that…
Experiment: Airlift 50,000 Yemini Jews to Israel and randomly place them with Israeli families. Finding: Nuture matters. “We find that children who were placed in a good environment (a home with good sanitary conditions, in a city, and outside of an ethnic enclave) were more likely to achieve positive long-term outcomes. They were more likely to…